


Till I Change My Luck

by deargoodbye



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 23:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16073954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deargoodbye/pseuds/deargoodbye
Summary: It’s hard for them not to believe in fate. They’ve had such unbelievable success as One Direction, professionally and personally. Everyone has a gift, a way to make the world a better place. Here’s what fate gave the boys.





	Till I Change My Luck

Louis definitely did not expect it. He’s done nothing but think about it, but he still doesn’t know what happened.

~~~~~

He was the first to agree to go swimming. Since X Factor filming started, there just wasn’t any time to really get some sun. Of course, he also considered the vast opportunities to ogle a shirtless Harry, and flaunt a little bit of nakedness right back. It was a bit of a bummer that Zayn couldn’t come in with them, but ultimately Louis decided that if it wasn’t the whole band there, it would give him less guilt about focusing only on Harry.

So of course Louis was a little bit miffed that Harry wasn’t returning the courtesy. He was quite satisfied with how Harry had blushed and stuttered when he first took off his shirt, then cosied up to him in the water with little brushes of skin on skin. But then, Harry had turned away and joined the conversation going on behind them. Louis knew Harry was excited to make friends, so was he, but it made him feel a little bit defeated, knowing that he couldn’t hold Harry’s attention even while shirtless and wet! _I’ll just have to show him what he’s missing_ , Louis thought.

Turning around, Louis spotted Niall and Liam talking. As he was making his way over, he noticed that Liam seemed a bit down, and Niall was trying to cheer him up. Louis could guess why - much like Louis and Harry were attached at the hip, Liam was most comfortable with Zayn. Louis didn’t really understand why Liam just refused to loosen up sometimes, but Zayn would always play mediator, tell Louis to calm down, then go spend some quiet time with Liam. Louis thought it was sweet, even if he wished Liam wouldn’t be so serious all the time. But he did consider Liam a friend, so he wanted Liam to have fun.

Once he was within earshot, he heard Niall raving to Liam about the bacon donut he’d tried for breakfast. Louis had already endured Niall declaring his intentions to marry the love of his life, so he caught Liam’s eye and rolled his own. Liam smiled. Figuring he could kick it up a notch, Louis snuck up behind Niall and gave him an almighty wedgie. Niall absolutely shrieked, and that tipped Liam into a fit of giggles. “You are terrible mates,” complained Niall, giving both of them a little shove. Louis immediately retaliated by splashing him, except he used a bit too much force and splashed Liam as well. A three-way splash fight broke out, and they were yelling insults at each other. As Louis was trying to get away from Niall, he noticed Harry coming over, a slight frown on his face.

Guessing that Harry was probably feeling a little bit jealous, Louis decided to show off a little bit more. With a battle cry, he launched himself at Liam, toppling them both into the water. Liam got his feet under him first, so Louis just clung to Liam and tickled him. Liam kept telling him to get off, but he was still laughing, so Louis kept going. Suddenly, he dropped into the water, taking Louis with him. When they both resurfaced again, Louis sputtered at Liam, but Liam immediately said, “Sorry Louis, I just stepped on something sharp, didn’t mean to drop you.”

“Oh my god Liam, are you okay?” Harry asked earnestly, worried after seeing Liam wince and both boys go down flailing. Liam reassured Harry that he was fine. “I heard there might be jellyfish here, so we should get out of the water,” Harry told them, slinging an arm around Louis’ waist. Liam paled. He’d been stung before and had to be hospitalised, so he wasn’t exactly keen to repeat the experience. As luck would have it, a boat passing by in the distance caused the water to get choppier. The big waves made it harder to stay upright, but Liam kept up a determined power walk towards the shore. Louis could tell that Liam was even more desperate to get out of the water. _Please let him be safe,_ thought Louis. _If anyone gets hurt, please don’t let it be one of the boys._

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his foot, and the shock meant that the next wave caught him off guard, and he lost his balance. Luckily, Harry was able to catch him. Not wanting to make a big deal out of it yet, Louis just smiled at Harry and they continued walking. The pain got worse, but Louis still couldn’t tell if it was a cut or a cramp. As they reached the edge of the water, Louis discretely looked down and noticed that his foot was bleeding, quite profusely. At the sight of so much blood, Louis panicked. Harry noticed and started to fret, awkwardly carrying Louis up the beach.

After a bit of a commotion, Louis was a bit embarrassed that Harry had to carry him, and Harry was a bit embarrassed that he had drawn attention to the two of them. They managed a bit of banter for the cameras, but after a while, the bleeding still hadn’t stopped, and the swelling had only gotten worse. Louis had no choice but to go to the hospital.

~~~~~

Louis was starting to get bored, sitting on his hospital bed. The lads couldn’t stay with him, so he had no one to talk to about his sea urchin sting. The nurses had cleaned him up and run some quick tests, then a doctor had come in to give the diagnosis. But then a nurse had come in and quickly informed the doctor that Mrs Reynolds in 22C had too high a heart rate for the epidural, so they both rushed out again. Louis knew an epidural was to alleviate pain in childbirth, and he knew from his mom’s experiences that childbirth hurt like hell. _I hope she’s okay,_ thought Louis, fiddling with the bed controls and amusing himself with moving the bed up and down.

A nurse came running and frantically asked if he was alright. He realised that his heart rate monitor was beeping fast, too fast. Frowning, he nodded at the nurse, who fiddled with his IV drip until the beeping started to slow down. Surely it was just his bad luck that despite Liam’s fear of jellyfish, he got hurt in the ocean, and surely it was just a coincidence that thinking about Mrs Reynolds’ too fast heart rate had caused his to rise dangerously. But Louis was also bored, and a little bit curious. Maybe he had a curse, to take other people’s suffering when he only meant to be sympathetic. Maybe they’d tell a legend about him, _Tough Luck Tomlinson_ or something. He had to test out his theory.

Luckily, he was in a two-bed ward, since his case wasn’t the most serious. In the bed across from him was a teenage girl who appeared to have an injured foot too, from the wrapping he could see. _I hope her foot isn’t broken_ , he thought. But then he started to second guess the whole theory. Did the wording matter? Her injury was a break, but his was a sting. He didn’t think his foot would suddenly break. Could his curse change things retrospectively? He would never know if her foot had or hadn’t been broken before he tested his curse on her. With the sea urchin and with Mrs Reynolds, the danger had been in the present, and Louis had felt the effect immediately. Left to his own thoughts, Louis’ mind raced. He began to worry. He might not make it back in time to rehearse and perform with the boys. If Simon didn’t allow them to push back their performance, the boys might just ditch him as deadweight. Sure, they were friends, but this was a competition, and all of them wanted to win. _I really hope my injury isn’t anything serious,_ he desperately hoped.

After a while, the doctor came back. “I have good news for you, Mr Tomlinson,” she said. “You’ll have swelling in your foot for a few more days, but the salt water kept the wound clean, so you won’t have any problems. I understand you’re on a tight schedule filming for X Factor, so we’ll release you and you can just take care of it on your own. But don’t hesitate to come back if it gets worse!” Louis felt relieved beyond measure, and thanked the doctor profusely. A nurse came in with his clothes and belongings, then pulled the curtain for him to change out of the hospital gown.

As he was changing, he realised the doctor was attending to his ward mate, so he shamelessly eavesdropped. “Your ankle is broken, Ms Halloway. And I’m afraid that it caused a slight puncture in your artery, leading to a clot. You’ll have to stay overnight while we monitor that,” the doctor said. Louis froze. What if the curse worked both ways? What if the minor nature of his injury was because he passed the complications to her? He started to panic, worrying about whether he might end up hurting his loved ones. The entire car ride back, he kept trying to figure out the logistics of his…ability. He figured he could use it for good - he could protect his loved ones. Maybe he could even help them win X Factor! _We're gonna crush this show,_ he thought, with conviction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow...I only joined the fandom in like 2011, but watching TXF gave me so much secondhand embarrassment omg they were so cringey. Also I don't remember enough about the timelines and the other contestants so I'm just gonna focus on OT5. Next up Harry gets his powers! :D

**Author's Note:**

> I was quite interested with how the Steal My Girl music video characterised the boys - I think it’s an oversimplified view of their “roles” in the band, but it’s not untrue I guess?? Anyway this is only my second fic so I’m just gonna see where this goes :) Don’t be afraid to give me feedback and suggestions!


End file.
